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Castles were built to keep people safe. Castle builders had to think of ways to make their castles strong against attack.

In this article you can find out:

• How people attacked and defended castles
• What a castle siege was
• How castles were used during World War Two

This resource is suitable for Castles topics for P2, P3 and P4 (Second Level Curriculum for Excellence).

Castles were built to keep the noble people of Scotland safe. From the safety of their big castles, the nobles controlled the lands that the King of Scotland asked them to look after.

Every so often, their castles would come under attack. So the castle builders had to keep on coming up with new ways to make their castles stronger and safer.

Castle builders had to think up new ways to keep people safe inside their castles.

They invented things like battlements and drawbridges to do this.

Castle attackers had to keep coming up with new ways to defeat the castles.

A siege was when an enemy surrounded a castle so that no one could escape and no food could get into the castle.

This made life very difficult for people defending the castle.

Attackers used special siege weapons like trebuchets to attack a castle.

After the invention of the cannon most castles stopped being used during war. They just weren't strong enough to stand up to such powerful weapons.

However, some Scottish castles became useful again during World War One and World War Two.